Built For Speed

Keanu Reeves Adds Action Hero To The Diverse Range Of Characters He Has Portrayed.

June 14, 1994|By Cindy Pearlman New York Times Syndicate

It was Keanu Reeves' most excellent adventure.

To do a complicated stunt for the action film Speed, which opened nationwide Friday, Reeves had to lie flat on his back underneath a speeding bus, on a little platform attached by a wire cable to a truck.

''I was a little wired, but I wasn't whining,'' he says.

Was he nervous?

Reeves, 29, just smiles and shrugs.

''I'm afraid of the dark - I don't have claustrophobia,'' he says.

But wasn't he just a little uncomfortable with his legs so close to those huge, spinning bus tires?

''Actually, this was pretty cool,'' Reeves says. ''I didn't exactly have to put myself in the moment acting-wise. I was there.

''Yeah, there were a few moments I felt like saying 'Whoa,' but mostly it was just a cool ride.''

The concept behind Speed has been described as ''Die Hard on a bus.''

The action thriller revolves around a Los Angeles city bus which has been rigged, by a madman played by Dennis Hopper, to explode if the driver slows down to 50 mph. And there is rush hour to contend with.

Enter primo SWAT cop Jack Traven (Reeves), who will come to learn the real problems with public transportation.

''You know, I never even take the bus,'' Reeves says, ''And now I probably never will.''

There was a time when it seemed as though Reeves would never do an action flick. Arnold Schwarzenegger he's not. But when asked if he's the new action hero, Reeves downplays the prospect.

''Next action hero? I have no idea,'' he says, rolling his eyes. ''I did one action movie. I don't know if it will be my thing now.''

After all, Reeves, who pegs himself as a serious young actor, has an eclectic resume that includes Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993).

In interviews Reeves has been known to alternate between quoting lines from Hamlet to talking about yin and yang.

Not normal conversation for an action hero. Still, he says, he likes the genre.

However, getting Reeves to sign on to do Speed was no easy task. First, he demanded a little script control.

''I didn't want my character Jack to be a typical action guy who just spits out one-liners. I wanted him to be a little deeper,'' says Reeves, whose influence developed the original script into something a little leaner and meaner.

Reeves, who slimmed down for his role in Little Buddha, in which he plays Prince Siddhartha, had to transform physically for Speed.

First, director Jan De Bont didn't want the character to have long hair, so Reeves shaved his head completely. Then, the actor pumped up for two months at Gold's Gym in Los Angeles.

''I didn't want to be cut, but I wanted to have somewhat of a beefy aspect to my chest and arms,'' Reeves told Entertainment Weekly.

He also had to toughen up for the demanding stunt work.

''I was afraid that Keanu wouldn't enjoy the special effects and the stunts,'' says De Bont, who makes his directorial debut with Speed.

It turned out that Reeves loved it.

''Then I was really worried,'' De Bont says.

One scene called for his character to jump from a racing Jaguar onto the moving bus, which was clocking in at around 55 mph.

''Yeah, I insisted on doing my own stunts. It didn't look dangerous or anything,'' Reeves says, adding, ''It was a rush. I didn't even think I would like the stunts and then your adrenalin gets pumping.''

When asked about the appeal of action flicks, why filmgoers like seeing things blow up as they do regularly in Speed, Reeves clearly enjoys this sort of deeper inquiry.

''It's really a question for a philosopher. I guess it's the whole death fantasy. Our destructive impulse as a society. Our enjoyment of pain.

''Or maybe,'' he says, leaning in, ''people just like fire.''

Part Hawaiian (his first name means ''cool breezes over the mountains''), Reeves grew up in Toronto, where he attended four high schools in five years before dropping out.

''I worked at a hockey rink,'' he says of early jobs. Then he was employed at an Italian food store.

Soon afterward, he started to take acting lessons and found his calling. Work in a community theater and a few Canadian TV spots led to commercials.

At 19, he moved to Los Angeles, where he did a TV movie before breaking out in the 1986 critically acclaimed River's Edge.

Reeves then became a favorite teen idol with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel.

''People ask if I'm sorry I did Bill and Ted and that is not the case. Those movies are funny and people enjoy them. Isn't that a good thing?''

It was for Reeves, who went on to play parts in Parenthood (1989), I Love You to Death (1990), My Own Private Idaho (1991) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

The fame that went with those acting jobs is what has Reeves disconcerted this afternoon.

''I'm just a very private person,'' he says, flipping through a magazine that recently published an article on him. He spots pictures he likes.

''This picture is cool,'' he says, his face brightening.

Moments later:

''Look, I would just like to do my work. I want to be an artist. I can be conflicted and confused about Hollywood and all the stuff that goes with it. Sometimes I feel like, 'What am I doing here? Is it for the attention?'

''I just don't want that much.''

He would like some time to ride his motorcycle.

Does he have any other pastimes?

''No, I don't have any hobbies. I just live my life,'' says Reeves, who has an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and keeps a room at a Hollywood hotel.

''I'm reading Hamlet right now for fun,'' he says, and adds that he hopes to play the melancholy Dane onstage in Canada soon.